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Two Spanish priests facing jail time for free speech deemed offensive to Muslims were acquitted last week.

A Spanish court ruled that articles written by the pair for Alerta Digital — an online site a lot like The Daily Declaration — did not amount to a hate crime.

The theology, politics, and culture commentators were accused of inciting hatred on the grounds that their criticisms of Islam were “Islamophobic”.

Charges were also brought for Alerta Digital TV, as far back as 2017.

Particularly, Father Custodio Ballester Bielsa’s remarks criticising mass immigration during an online vlog panel.

“These migratory flows aren’t humanitarian,” he said at the time, “they are a planned colonisation.”

“Islam,” Ballester added, “is not a religion of peace, as the progressives and even some lukewarm bishops try to sell us.”

“The Quran is full of verses calling for jihad, for subjugating the infidel. Surah 9:5, for example: ‘Kill the idolaters wherever you find them.’”

“Do we want that in our streets?” he asked.

“Soros, the EU, the Islamic lobby. It’s a hybrid war against the Cross.”

For this and other similar statements, Ballester was charged with hate crimes alongside Father Jesús Calvo and journalist Armando Robles.

Lawfare

Answering the allegations, Ballester told the Catholic News Agency (CNA) that their legal battle was a fight for the survival of free speech.

If lost, he said, “we’ll be headed toward a new Cuban dictatorship.”

“One where you were arrested for what you said; as well as for what you thought, if it differed from what [Cuban communist dictator] Fidel Castro decided.”

“My statements,” Ballester said, “have never been discriminatory or hateful.”

Sharing more fact-based content from the priest, CNA strongly implied that the judicial jihad against the priests proved his point.

For instance, CNA continued, Ballester is on record saying that dialogue with Islam is impossible.

“This renewed revival of Christian-Muslim dialogue, paralysed by the alleged ‘imprudence’ of the beloved Benedict XVI, is far from a reality,” Ballester once argued.

“Islam does not allow for dialogue. You either believe or you are an infidel who must be subdued one way or another.”

“The prosecution,” Ballester explained, “demonstrates with its actions that so-called hate crimes exist to restrict freedom of thought and expression.”

“They fabricate the crime in each case based on who allegedly committed it, and it’s a one-way crime.”

“They only charge Christians, never Muslims.”

Offense Taken

CNA said the trio’s trials began after Muslims Against [so-called] Islamophobia (MCI) filed hate speech complaints with Spain’s socialist government.

On their website, the Muslim organisation stated that they were privately prosecuting the Christian men.

The group claimed the three men’s commentary and criticisms “constituted a crime of incitement to hatred (breaching Article 510 of Spain’s hate crime laws).”

Citing further reasons for seeking to silence the men, Muslims Against [so-called] Islamophobia determined their criticisms of Islam to be “dehumanising and discriminatory”.

They then accused Ballester and Calvo of “fostering a hostile climate contrary to peaceful and democratic co-existence”.

In the article dedicated to seemingly defaming the Christian priests, the Islamic group also argued that their reasoned criticism of Islam went beyond the right to criticise.

The group declared, in effect, that their case against the two priests was to discourage what they described as “criminalised” attacks on Muslims.

Stalwart Support

High-profile support for the persecuted Christian priests included Franklin Graham, who said on X that the lawfare was “unbelievable”.

“This Catholic priest from Spain had to go to trial to defend his right to speak the truth about radical Islam,” he remarked.

“I appreciate the fact that Father Custodio Ballester wouldn’t back down, even in the face of a jail term.”

To this, the son of Billy Graham added,

“He was additionally threatened with a 10-year ban from preaching. I’m not a Catholic, but I’ll be preaching in Spain next year and I hope to have a chance to meet him!”

United States Deputy Attorney General Michael Gates firmly indicated that the Trump administration was watching the lawsuit.

Gates shared news of the priests’ acquittal, captioned, “Excellent! Justice!”

Excellent! Justice! https://t.co/IdWPZ3GNn5

— Attorney Michael E. Gates (@MichaelGatesESQ) October 17, 2025

There was also a 29,300-strong petition in defence of free speech.

As first reported on X by Catholic journalist Sachin Jose, the petitions were gathered by Abogados Cristianos, a Christian law firm.

The Spanish free speech defenders, founded in 2008, called the lawsuit disproportionate, given the flagrant attacks on the Catholic Church in Spain.

Slamming the double standard, they observed: It’s okay to mock Christians, disrupt worship, and desecrate Christian sites, then see the perpetrators walk.

Criticise Islam, though, and you’ll face a hate speech charge, with a lengthy prison sentence attached.

“It’s surreal,” their petition declared.

“The law is useless for all of us who receive attacks and harassment simply because we’re Christian.”

“They would never censor criticism, disrespect, or constant insults toward Catholics broadcast from television studios,” Abogados Cristianos concluded.

“If we tolerate this injustice being committed against Father Ballester, we will be setting a fatal precedent.”

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Images courtesy of Abogados Cristianos.